Tag: wind turbines

Coastal and marine, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Seals avoid an operating tidal turbine

Authors of a recently published study discuss how their research discovered that seals exhibit avoidance of turbines during operation. This finding is important for industry developers and regulators, as lower numbers of seals close to the turbine reduces the potential for fatal collisions and injuries. The rise of the tidal energy industry The marine renewable energy sector is growing rapidly. Offshore wind is well established, … Continue reading Seals avoid an operating tidal turbine

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Coastal and marine, Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Evaluating songbird vulnerability to offshore wind turbine mortality

Leon Green-Tkacenko and co-authors share insight into their recent study that explores how existing vulnerability indices for seabirds can be applied to migrating songbirds, and potentially other migrating birds, in evaluating vulnerability to offshore wind turbine morality. What is the problem? Climate change is the most pressing threat to biodiversity in the 21st century andaddressing this threat will require substantial changes to how we generate … Continue reading Evaluating songbird vulnerability to offshore wind turbine mortality

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Coastal and marine, Research summaries

Beneath the Waves: Estimating Marine Bird Abundances Outside the Breeding Season

Ruth Dunn shares insights on her latest study where, alongside her colleagues, she investigated the number of marine birds, outside of their breeding seasons, that may be undetectable when underwater during at-sea surveys. Investing in renewable energy developments, as opposed to burning fossil fuels, has been hailed as a route through which humans might be able to counteract anthropogenic-induced climate change. Within western Europe, it … Continue reading Beneath the Waves: Estimating Marine Bird Abundances Outside the Breeding Season

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Coastal and marine, Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

A safe passage: Protecting migratory birds in the North Sea

Maja Bradarić summarises how, alongside colleagues, they used 5 years of tracking bird radar data, weather and phenological variables to develop seasonal forecasts of bird migration over the southern North Sea. These forecasts of nocturnal bird migration may be used to define curtailment thresholds for offshore wind energy. In May 2023, turbines in two offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea came to a virtual … Continue reading A safe passage: Protecting migratory birds in the North Sea

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Editor's Choice, Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries

Editor’s Choice 58:3 Eagle fatalities are reduced by automated curtailment of wind turbines

Journal of Applied Ecology’s March Editor’s Choice tests the efficacy of an automated curtailment system in reducing counts of fatalities of eagles. Associate Editor, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi, introduces the selected article by Chris J W McClure, which shows that this method substantially reduced eagle fatalities, offering potential opportunities to lessen the conflict between wind energy and raptor conservation. We need greener renewable energy to fight climate … Continue reading Editor’s Choice 58:3 Eagle fatalities are reduced by automated curtailment of wind turbines

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Research summaries

Wind farms affect small birds too

Julia Gómez-Catasús explains the need for a 4.5km threshold between wind farms and small-sized birds, based on the recently published article, Wind farms affect the occurrence, abundance and population trends of small passerine birds: The case of the Dupont’s lark. Wind energy has experienced significant developments in recent decades, with China, United States, Germany, India and Spain being the main wind energy producers in the world. … Continue reading Wind farms affect small birds too

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Human-wildlife interactions, Research summaries, Themed collections

Spotlight: How do renewable energy installations affect wildlife?

In the first post of its kind for The Applied Ecologist’s blog, Dr Lucy Wright, RSPB Principal Conservation Scientist, discusses five articles published in the latest issue of Journal of Applied Ecology, which have been grouped into a special profile on wildlife and renewable energy. All five papers are currently free to read online. Renewable energy is widely accepted to be a vital part of … Continue reading Spotlight: How do renewable energy installations affect wildlife?

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Research summaries

The birds and the Bayes – new statistical approaches to modelling seabird flight heights

In this post Viola Ross-Smith discusses her recent paper ‘Modelling flight heights of lesser black-backed gulls and great skuas from GPS: A Bayesian approach‘. Although the need for renewable energy and its benefits are now widely recognised, this technology does not come without implications for biodiversity and the environment. For this reason, it’s important to assess and quantify the potential risks of renewables to wildlife … Continue reading The birds and the Bayes – new statistical approaches to modelling seabird flight heights

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Research summaries

Radar technology may help design raptor-proof wind farms in the future

In this post, Miguel Ferrer and Des Thompson discuss the recently published paper by Sergio Cabrera-Cruz and Rafael Villegas-Patraca ‘Response of migrating raptors to an increasing number of wind farms’ This study has for the first time used radar trajectories of more than 3.7 million migrant raptors, over six years, to measure responses to a wind farm. Essentially, in an experimental situation of pre- and … Continue reading Radar technology may help design raptor-proof wind farms in the future

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Research summaries

Seals find a quiet place to phone home

In this post Debbie Russell discusses her paper ‘Avoidance of windfarms by harbour seals is limited to pile driving activities‘ published today in Journal of Applied Ecology. Marine renewables in the fight against climate change To fight climate change we have to cut our carbon emissions. One of the main sources of carbon emissions results from burning coal to make electricity. Thus a key weapon … Continue reading Seals find a quiet place to phone home

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